"You can't beat those barbarians from the Alien Lands?"

Upstairs in an inn in the outer city, facing the window of the dock, Zhang Yao's eyesight is not as good as Cai Zhao's, and he can't see the situation on the ship clearly, but his mouth is non-stop.

Cai Zhao held the teacup in his hand, and the mouth of the cup had been put to his mouth and a stick of incense had been blown, and even the heat was not rising, but it had not yet entered his mouth.

"Don't make noise. Cai Zhao didn't look at Zhang Yao, still tilting his head and staring out the window, paying close attention to the movements on the ship.

Zhang Yao irritably put the teacup on the table a little heavier, and the tea came out a little, "What's going on?"

Cai Zhao saw the Praetorian guards get down from the Wanli Royal, combined with the cigarette barrel that was thrown into other ships, and he had a judgment in his heart.

"Your dad should be safe, it looks like he's convinced the snake. Cai Zhao withdrew his gaze back into the window, took a sip of tea in his cup, and said.

The expression on Zhang Yao's face soothed, and it could be seen that although he was a frivolous son, he had great respect for his father.

"What do you think? I said snakes. Cai Zhao put down the tea he had just taken a sip of, pulled a chair inside, and asked.

Zhang Yao sneered contemptuously and said disdainfully: "It's just a mercenary leader, no different from a prostitute, whoever pays the highest price is whoever, I thought he was an ambitious figure before." ”

"You mean your father has raised the price?" Cai Zhao squeezed his eyes, obviously unconvinced.

Zhang wanted to take a sip of tea and rinse his mouth, looked out the window thoughtfully, and turned his head for a while, saying, "If the snake and my father quarreled before, and just wanted to increase the price, my father should not resist like that, and asked you to take me off the boat......"

"You said, 'I just want to increase the price', I see that your father and son are poor and white in addition to a good dress, and it doesn't matter how much the price is raised, in fact, they don't plan to pay people honestly how much they want. Cai Zhao sneered.

Zhang Yao was not annoyed, but nodded as if he thought so, and said, "My father is not a person who does not believe in his words, but ...... You're right, I guess that's what the snake worm thinks. ”

"So ......," Cai Zhao said.

“...... What my father promised to the snake was probably not a price increase, but a guarantee. Zhang Yao bowed his head and said.

"And that guarantor is you. Cai Zhao picked up the tea and took a sip and said.

Zhang had to bow his head and be silent, not knowing whether he was lost or thinking.

......

After a long time, Zhang Yao raised his head, drank all the tea in the cup, and put the empty teacup on the table heavily, as if he had made up his mind.

"Let's go," he stood up and beckoned to Cai Zhao, "Since you, an incapable bodyguard, can't rescue my father, then I, an unfilial son, can only count on him to save himself." ”

"Then you are really unfilial. Cai Zhao also got up and laughed.

"Come with me somewhere. Zhang wanted to ignore him and walked straight out.

Cai Zhao really felt that he still owed the father and son some life-saving graces, and besides, he was penniless and couldn't go anywhere, so he followed.

......

It was already dark, and the inner city of Jinding Jing was only the layers of golden domes that shimmered under the moon, but the outer city was full of lights that never sleeped.

Among them, there is only one street that is neither long nor short in the dark, and the people of Beijing call this place "Rat Market", as the name suggests, it is a market for rats.

The image of the rat has multiple meanings in the empire, when referring to animals, of course, it refers to the kind of ugly creatures that are gray, with sharp beaks and thin tails, and haunts the gutters in the corners, but when it refers to people, it has more meanings - it can be a person with a lewd appearance, a person who acts cautiously, can be a thief, or can be a fine work, and all these meanings are applicable to the rat market in Jindingjing.

Yes, it is a gathering place for thieves and petty workers, a safe haven for the obscene-looking, a haven for the cautious, and a stronghold for true rats.

The original name of the rat market was Huaishu Street, this name only exists in the official family of the map, the people in the capital call it "rat market", it has been called for an unknown amount of time, so long that you say the real name of "Huaishu Street", people will only frown, scratch their heads, and tell you that there is no place in Jindingjing.

The houses in Rat City are lined up one after another, leaving only an extremely narrow space in the middle for people to pass through. The house is closed during the day, and the lights are turned off at night, and the rats of the people like it, and the rats of the beasts like it.

Now is the first day, Zhang Yao and Cai Zhao stepped into this darkness from the light of the outer city, the narrower the passage, the thicker the darkness, and the eaves closed together above their heads blocked the moonlight, and finally the darkness that could not be seen in the five fingers.

The hustle and bustle of the outer city can no longer be heard here, only the sound of rats near and far in the ears, squeaking, squeaking, squeaking, and small things can be felt from time to time on the thin upper of the shoe crawling agilely, Cai Zhao, who grew up in the village, is better, and Zhang Yao, who has been pampered since childhood, is simply crazy.

"What is this place you brought me here?" Cai Zhao followed, grumbling.

"Hmm......" Zhang wanted to snort in his throat, and he didn't want to open his mouth, for fear of taking in one more breath of this foul air.

"Are you sure you're not wrong?" Cai Zhao then asked.

Zhang Yao finally couldn't hold it back and said: "This is the rat market, be quiet, the rats will be scared away, and we will come in vain." ”

Cai Zhao didn't ask anymore when he heard this, it seemed that although Zhang Yao looked disgusted, he was not completely unfamiliar with this place.

The two walked silently for a while, Zhang Yao secretly counted the steps in his heart, stopped in one place, and Cai Zhao, who was following closely behind, bumped into him, and the two of them stumbled one after the other.

"......What are you doing," Cai Zhao was about to speak, and when he heard Zhang Yao's soft "shh-" sound, he closed his mouth.

Zhang Yao raised his hand and carefully removed a tile from the eaves above his head, the moonlight shining through the gap, so faint that his eyes that had adapted to the darkness were still flickering.

When their eyes adjusted to the light, the two of them saw clearly, and in front of them were old wooden houses, on both sides, they were too close together, and when their doors opened, they were all stuck by the opposite wall.

Zhang wanted to follow the moonlight, looking inch by inch on the dirty door, his squeamish nose was smoked by the pungent stench, but there was no reaction to the rest of his face, only to search for the door intently, intently.

Got it!

The body that was almost still in concentration suddenly sank, literally relieved. The three dots arranged in an inverted triangle were the marks of the contact his father had told him.

Zhang wanted to squat down, clean himself like him, and he propped his elbows on the ground, and lay on the ground, where snakes, insects, rats, and ants were rampant, and the dirt was several inches thick.

Cai Zhao felt dirty and incredible, but he also felt curious, so he also squatted down to see what he was going to do.

I saw that Zhang was going to take a deep breath, and meow-meow——, actually learned two cat meows.

Then he lifted up his hand, knocked on the door six times, shouted twice, knocked on the door six times, and so on.

Zhang Yao, who was lying on the ground, did this more than ten times, and Cai Zhao on the side wondered if he was crazy-

Bang!

There was a loud bang, and a small window slipped open under the door.

Zhang wanted to breathe a long sigh of relief, so he put his hands into the small window, and there was a snap, and when he took his hand out of the small window, there was already an extra pair of handcuffs on it.

He raised his head, pointed at Cai Zhao, pointed twice at the entrance of the cave, and motioned for him to put his hand in as well.

Cai Zhao had doubts, he didn't trust the rats in the black market like Zhang Yao, so he shook his head and stepped back lightly.

Zhang Yao wanted to get up and hold him for a moment, but when he thought that it would be good for someone to answer outside, he no longer acted rashly, but stood up unhurriedly as if he was the only one. The people in the door could only observe the outside from the window below, so they should not have known about Cai Zhao's existence so far.

On the side, Cai Zhao had already withdrawn ten steps away, and suddenly remembered something, Chong Zhang was about to beckon, but the latter turned his head, and he threw something out of that hand.

Zhang Yao was so angry that he was about to stomp his feet, the door was about to open, what kind of mess was he making at this time-

He had no choice but to grab the handcuffed hand and quickly pick it up, and the object smashed into his palm impartially.

Zhang didn't have time to look at it, so he hurriedly threw the thing into the neckline, and his hands quickly hung down, assuming the posture he should have.

The moonlight only leaked through the missing tile above his head, and Cai Zhao quickly disappeared into the dark streets.

With a babble, the door opened.

Open inwards so you don't get stuck on the opposite wall.